hoover, said that the surge was the worst blunder since the vietnam war, which is nonsense, and was very anti his own party, and people don't forget that. >> that seems honest. let's go to senator claire mccaskill who has been tough in dealing on the armed services committee with some of the zealots. i try to find political motive. why is ted cruz, the new kid on the block, acting so ferociously? why are they doing this to a guy who is a middle-of-the-roader? i don't get it. your thoughts, senator? >> i think it's extremism. i think this is somebody who is on the very edge of the political spectrum, and he thinks he has the right to try to pull everyone over with him, but what was really bad about what happened, chris, was not that he opposed chuck hagel. we can all live with that, although this filibuster is inexcusable, especially in light of the history of this body and what it means, but what he did was he made innuendos and inferences that chuck hagel was a liar and a traitor. now, this is a man when everyone was going to canada or everyone was trying to get a deferral, he stoo